Convergence - The Last Science #2.1 - In Plain Sight

Interlude V - The Sister - V

  Meg clapped, and Alden smiled. A few seconds later, it puffed out. He clutched the pile of crates to keep himself up.

  "Too much?" she asked, recognizing magic fatigue when she saw it. "We've been going all night. Maybe take a break?"

  "Nah, it was just too sudden. I had to switch from moving the fire to keeping it alive. Still easier than making it myself though. It's a good start. I can work with it."

  "Awesome."

  Alden sat down in the lone chair on his side, taking a drink from his water bottle. Meg decided it was as good a time as any to ask a few more questions, since he seemed to be in a pretty good mood. It was loads better than earlier.

  "Hey Zack."

  "Yeah?"

  She took a breath, building up to a question she'd been meaning to ask for months. "Did you ever find out... you know." He didn't seem to understand. "What you went there to find out. You know. To Rallsburg."

  "Oh." He glanced up at the small window in the shed, where they could just barely see the empty room that had puzzled them both for so long. Even now, it sat totally unused. They'd thought about practicing magic in it, but decided the shed was safer. Plus, something about it just made them both feel sad. None of the family liked going in that room. "No, I didn't. Not really."

  "What does that mean?"

  "Well. She and I—"

  "Who?"

  He glanced at her oddly. "I never told you about her?"

  "Who, your girlfriend?"

  He laughed. She felt indignant for a moment, but it was gone as soon as she'd realized he was laughing. This was miles better than she'd hoped for only the night before. "She's way out of my league. Out of anyone's league probably. She's in her own league of one and she'd never let anyone else into it if she could help it."

  "I know some girls like that."

  "She's the one who taught me how to cast a lot of my early stuff. I met her on the train ride there."

  "And what's she like?"

  "Kinda short, blue hair, and she'd be really attractive if she wasn't so scary."

  Meg rolled her eyes. "Her personality. You are such a guy."

  "What, scary isn't a personality?"

  "No."

  "...She's really intense, but you can tell she cares a lot. Too much, probably. And she's always on a mission. One specific mission, really, and she's never gonna let anything get in her way."

  "What's that?"

  "She's trying to find her father."

  "Well how hard could that be?"

  "Really hard, I guess. We never really got into specifics. I think he's in hiding though. He was super rich, then he sold off his company and all his stuff and disappeared one day."

  "Wow. I hope she finds him."

  Alden shook his head. "I don't."

  "Huh?"

  "I think she's actually gonna kill him."

  "...What?"

  "She said she was going to. I didn't really believe it at first, but I saw her in action. She'd do it." He sighed. "It's a long story. We got off topic."

  "It's cool."

  Alden glanced up at the empty room again. "I think we had an older sibling, and I think they were erased by magic somehow."

  Meg took a few seconds to process what he'd just said. "...That's supposed to be impossible, right? Mason's Law or whatever."

  "Yeah, but some things break that law. Like recoil from broken spells. Or..." he trailed off. "Or this, apparently."

  "How'd you figure it out?"

  "Well, it's the only thing that made sense with everything I had. The university envelope, the empty laptop, the empty room, so on. I didn't think it was magic though, until I got to Rallsburg and... yeah."

  "And you got awakened and now you can do cool magic tricks."

  "Pretty much. Grey-eyes told me that it couldn't be undone. Whoever they were, they're not coming back. Our memories are toast."

  "That's crazy." Meg felt weird. She didn't know what to think about it. Someone had messed with her head? She couldn't remember someone at all? And the goddess of magic herself said it couldn't be reversed. It was too much to consider. All she could do was try to take it with a dash of humor, or else she knew she'd start stewing about it for days. "You know what though?"

  "What?"

  "I bet we had an older sister."

  Alden's mouth twitched slightly. "Why d'you say that?"

  "'Cause an older brother wouldn't have cleaned everything on his way out. He would have left a mess." She jabbed him with her foot teasingly.

  "Hey, I clean up after myself."

  "Yeah you do, you freak." She picked up the candle lighter and lit it again. "Come on, let's keep trying. You should get this down."